A night at the ballet is so different from any other theatre experience somehow it has more of a buzz about it, more of a frisson that you are going to witness something very special. We joined a packed audience including lots of little girls in their best party dresses full of excitement for the treat of all treats. From curtain up Moscow City Ballet company’s production of Swan Lake was breathtaking and enthralling. The beautiful (if somewhat implausible!) story is of Odette who lives by day as a swan having been cursed by an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart in the guise of an owl and her love affair with Prince Siegfried. Odette and her friends take on their human form between midnight and dawn and only the pure love of a young man can break the spell. Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette and promises to marry her but Von Rothbart tricks him into believing his own daughter, Odile (the black swan) is Odette and he makes his marriage declaration to her instead with disastrous consequences.
Liliya Orekhova dances Odette and Odile and has a fragile beauty which belies her strength and perfect technical ability. She is a joy to watch and the partnership between her and Talgat Kozhabaev (Prince Siegfried) is a marriage of sensitivity and fluid interpretation of their roles. The court jester (Valeriy Kravtsov) was absolutely marvellous, his vigorous and spirited performance left us gasping and he added in a nice piece of humour by pretending to collapse with fatique at the end of his energetic solo.
Of course Tchaikovsky’s music is familiar to everyone which is a bonus and we loved to see the dance of the cygnets being performed so beautifully. The costumes were some of the finest I’ve ever seen in a production of Swan Lake, especially the Spanish, Hungarian, Neoplitan and Polish brides, and best of all Odette/Odile’s half black and half white swan costume.
All in all, if you like ballet, or any kind of dance this is a ’must see’ for you. It is two hours of sheer delight both musically and for the standard of perfection of the dance from the whole company
Jacquie Vowles